An example method is provided in one example embodiment and may include receiving traffic associated with at least one of a mobile network and a Gi-Local Area Network (data-plane), wherein the traffic comprises one or more packets; determining a classification of the traffic to a service chain, wherein the service chain comprises one or more service functions associated at least one of one or more mobile network services and one or more data-plane services; routing the traffic through the service chain; and routing the traffic to a network using one of a plurality of egress interfaces, wherein each egress interface of the plurality of egress interfaces is associated with at least one of the one or more mobile network services and the one or more data-plane services.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein one or more service functions configured for a particular mobile packet core network fast-path perform at least one of: General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol (GTP) decapsulation and encapsulation operations on the one or more packets.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein forwarding the traffic includes multiplexing the traffic between the one or more mobile packet core network services and the one or more data-plane services and forwarding the traffic to the network from an egress interface associated with the one or more data-plane services.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein forwarding the traffic includes multiplexing the traffic between the one or more mobile packet core network services and the one or more data-plane services and forwarding the traffic to the network from an egress interface associated with the one or more mobile packet core network services.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the traffic is associated with at least one of a bearer and a flow for a particular subscriber and wherein the classification is determined for at least one of the bearer and the flow for the particular subscriber.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing data representing a network graph for a plurality of service chains, wherein each service chain is identified by a service path identifier.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein a particular service function is included within a plurality of the plurality of service chains.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the second service layer is in series with the first service layer.
19. The system of claim 17, further comprising a controller, wherein the controller stores data representing a network graph for a plurality of service functions, and wherein the network graph comprises a plurality of service chains each identified by a service path identifier.
20. The system of claim 17, wherein the traffic is associated with at least one of a bearer and a flow for a particular subscriber, and wherein the classification is determined for at least one of the bearer and the flow for the particular subscriber.
21. The system of claim 17, wherein the mobile core and data-plane functions are grouped into at least a first service layer and a second service layer.
22. The system of claim 21, wherein the first service layer is in series with the second service layer.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
May 28, 2021
November 22, 2022
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.